When Republica went to press, 69 votes were counted and chairman candidates Neeraj Acharya and Mahesh Basnet had secured 37 and 32 votes respectively. Acharya is close to party chairman Jhalanath Khanal and Basnet is backed by another UML heavyweight KP Sharma Oli.[break]
The vote counting was underway at UML´s zonal office at 17 different groups starting 8 pm and the final results are expected by Tuesday morning.
According to RC Acharya, coordinator of the election committee, 1,387 representatives cast their votes although 1,439 representatives were scheduled to vote in the election.
YAN general convention, which was originally planned to conclude Sunday, was extended following dispute between the two panels led by Basnet and Acharya.
The party´s key leaders have been actively lobbying in favor of their favorite candidates as the association is one of the very influential wings in UML. Jhapat Rawal, who had earlier announced to vie for chairman, withdrew candidacy and decided to support Basnet.
Rawal, who is close to former PM Madhav Kumar Nepal, took the decision after Nepal and Oli reached a deal to forge an election alliance between the two factions led by Basnet and Rawal.
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